Idea: Shogun 2 AAR/Story competition

[Maltz]

This is just an idea in line with "how to increase ORG participation". I think we can be more relaxed about the rules so anybody with some degrees of interest could join, so it is definitely not a "winner takes all" kind of competition, but rather "everybody wins" (as long as the entry is not a shameful display).

ORG's 2012 Shigun 2 AAR/Story competition

(1) Must be about a Shogun 2, ROTS, or FOTS campaign.
(2) The participant has the freedom to decide on the victory conditions of the campaign (short, long, etc.), difficulty, mods, etc.
(3) The participant post the story in the Shogun 2 AAR forum. Once they do, they automatically enter the competition even if they do not want to.
(4) For even the busiest player to finish a domination campaign, the competition can run for about 2 months. The story must end before the deadline. It is OK for the story not to end on a victory screen, but it must provide an obvious closure to the story (like "the end").
(5) Award categories. Depending on the number of participants we can have more or less categories at the judgment of the staff. Open secret: we try to give all story writers something to take home proudly. For example,

- Best Story. How well the story is written.
- Best Strategy: How well the campaign strategies are carried out.
- Best Tactics: How well the battles are fought.
- Best Presentation: How well the screenshots and videos are made.
- Most Creative: How fresh the story is.
- Most Laughs: How funny the story is.
- Best Effort: How heroic the player fought hard to the last moment.

(6) Actual awards. Maybe a little badge thing that hangs below the participants' portrait?

It should not be too much work on the staff (at least not for 2 months) and it should boost readership. Any comments?

[Peasant Phill]

I say go for it.
If you need any help be it advertisement, judges, that badge, ... just give your friendly neighborhood CM a PM. I'm now officially your support for this project.
just a hint, first check the number of members that are interested in joining.

[Andres]

I'm all for it. Perhaps we should put the contest in the TW:S2 or Fall of the Samurai forum and move it to the TreasAARy later on.

[Maltz]

We can comfortably advertise in the .COM forum and perhaps the TWC on an individual basis. For example, if I want to participate in the competition, I can post the same story on the TWC while mentioning that this story and more are also available on the ORG. So it is a win-win for both sites. Once the advertisements are out, we will receive more entries.

I think the biggest obstacle is not really participation once the advertisement is out there (and we make it clear that every finished story will win something in the end), but rather how many of the stories will carry to the end. Finishing a domination campaign is a marathon. Two marathons if we want to make screenshots and write about it. Three marathons if we want to make videos about several battles! It will be sad to see 80% of the stories run out of steam as the writers lost interest in the game. Maybe the staff and moderators need to constantly encourage them. :p

I am just a senior member so I am in no place to annouce the competition. But just an idea. If there are things I can help, I will be glad to. For example, I can help posting the instructions of how to upload pictures and link youtube clips.

[Peasant Phill]

...I am just a senior member so I am in no place to annouce the competition...

Oh, but that can be helped very quickly .

You can compile the rules and the announcement. After all this will be YOUR competition, you should get the credit for it.
I can advertise and post on the other forums in your name.

[Maltz]

I don't think it is a good idea to let me organize make such event, since in order to promote the event I might actually write another story and become a participant. For me to even make up rules would be unfair (that's why I wish such competition to be as non-competitive as possible). But I can help organize other events that I have no interest of joining.

[Maltz]

Just asking (not urging), what do the staff feel about this?
Personally I have started preparing screenshots for a new story, but I am holding it off so I that I may qualify for the event. If the event is a no go, I will simply start posting. Thanks.

[Andres]

How would you feel about not limiting it to Shogun II alone? There are still people here playing the older games. Not sure if one of them would write an AAR for your contest, but maybe it's worth a try by allowing entries for other TW titles as well?

[Maltz]

Sure! More people to join means more stories to read.
Please don't call it my contest (as I wish to be just one of the participants).

[Peasant Phill]

Please don't call it my contest (as I wish to be just one of the participants).

Sorry, it's your idea, so it's your contest.
That being said, we're trying to get something of a monthly contest going and your AAR/story competition fits in nicely.
We have the video contest at the moment and next I want to do a game challenge so that leaves you with some time to draft the rules and an announcement.
I'll go over it and organise further so you can participate. What do you think?

[Maltz]

Having frequent events is great.

There might be a little problem though. Not every ORG patron is interested in every competition. For example, for people who do not make videos, they will have nothing to do this month. An average gamer plays a game for only a few months. A hardcore fan may play for several months, but rarely over a year. I think we can allow multiple contests at the same time, but extend the participation period and adjust them so there is a contest that ends every month (so it is still a monthly contest). This way, more people can find competitions to join during their interest of the game.

Here is the revised draft of rules.
Anything else I can do?

ORG's 2012 AAR/Story competition - DRAFT

(1) Period: from (start date) to (2 or 3 months later).

(2) Content: Must be based on a Total War game campaign. Any Total War game.

(3) Conditions: No restriction. The participant has the freedom to decide on the victory conditions of the campaign (short, long, etc.), difficulty, mods, etc.

(4) Qualifications:
(a) The participant starts a new thread in the AAR/story in the TreasAARy forum. This is an automatic qualification.
(b) The participant had started an AAR/story prior to this date, but wishes to join the contest. Such an AAR/story is qualified IF the AAR/story receives significant development during the period of the competition. The participant has to explicitedly state that the story wishes to enter the competition by replying below. (Not this draft!)
(c) The story must end before the deadline. The story does not have to end on a victory/loss screen, but it must provide an obvious closure such as "The End".

(5) Award categories. Depending on the number of participants we can have more or less categories at the judgment of the staff. Open secret: we try to give all story writers something to take home proudly. For example,

- Best Story. How well the story is written.
- Best Strategy: How well the campaign strategies are carried out.
- Best Tactics: How well the battles are fought.
- Best Presentation: How well the screenshots and videos are made. Can be separated into two categories.
- Most Creative: How fresh the story is.
- Most Laughs: How funny the story is.
- Best Effort: How heroic the player fought hard to the last moment.

(6) Actual awards. A little badge thing that hangs below the participants' portrait?

[Peasant Phill]

Frequent events is great.

There might be a little problem though. Not every ORG patron is interested in every competition. For example, for people who do not make videos, they will have nothing to do this month. An average gamer plays a game for only a few months. A hardcore fan may play for several months, but rarely over a year. I think we can allow multiple contests at the same time, but extend the participation period and adjust them so there is a contest that ends every month (so it is still a monthly contest). This way, more people can find competitions to join during their interest of the game.

That's true but at the moment contest don't get that much participants. Doing multiple contests at the same time is running the risk that some won't see any participants. That doesn't mean that no contest can overlap.

Here is the revised draft of rules.
Anything else I can do?

ORG's 2012 AAR/Story competition - DRAFT

(1) Period: from (start date) to (2 or 3 months later).

(2) Content: Must be based on a Total War game campaign. Any Total War game.

(3) Conditions: No restriction. The participant has the freedom to decide on the victory conditions of the campaign (short, long, etc.), difficulty, mods, etc.

(4) Qualifications:
(a) The participant starts a new thread in the AAR/story in the TreasAARy forum. This is an automatic qualification.
(b) The participant had started an AAR/story prior to this date, but wishes to join the contest. Such an AAR/story is qualified IF the AAR/story receives significant development during the period of the competition. The participant has to explicitedly state that the story wishes to enter the competition by replying below. (Not this draft!)
(c) The story must end before the deadline. The story does not have to end on a victory/loss screen, but it must provide an obvious closure such as "The End".

(5) Award categories. Depending on the number of participants we can have more or less categories at the judgment of the staff. Open secret: we try to give all story writers something to take home proudly. For example,

- Best Story. How well the story is written.
- Best Strategy: How well the campaign strategies are carried out.
- Best Tactics: How well the battles are fought.
- Best Presentation: How well the screenshots and videos are made. Can be separated into two categories.
- Most Creative: How fresh the story is.
- Most Laughs: How funny the story is.
- Best Effort: How heroic the player fought hard to the last moment.

(6) Actual awards. A little badge thing that hangs below the participants' portrait?

The rules look good. 2-3 month period is rather long but not everybody cruises through a single campaign in a matter of days.
The staff can provide a badge and we're talking about giving out monetary prizes as incentives (but this has to be looked at first).

[Maltz]

Just got an idea about prize:

Can the ORG work out a sponsorship deal with SEGA so that we receive a number of free game copies as prices of our contests? For example, the winner of the latest contest can receive a free copy of the latest release such as Fall of the Samurai (or equivalent). This way, the ORG saves money and the company's PR department has a way to outreach to the community. Or if the company is feeling stingy they can supply past releases, or unsold peripheral products such as soundtrack, posters, T-shirts... I think the fans will also like these prizes if they won it from the company, and increase their loyalty to the series. The contest also inspires other fans to like the game. This is good for everyone.

***

I don't think having multiple contests at the same time will render some contests with nobody to join. We can imagine that ORG is running a carnival and each contest is a different booth. If many booth are opening at the same time, but closes at different times, people can still plan a route of visit so they get to all their desired booths before they close. This is better than opening only 1 booth at a time, so people uninterested in that particular booth will just wonder around and probably leave the carnival. The carnival actually does not open longer in the previous case. It just needs more man power to host the booths. Fortunately the staffs do not have to do too much during the elongated contest period - maybe a monthly update of the entries. What Graphic does for the video contest is great.

So essentially this is to use multiple ongoing contest to attract users of different interests. This is also a good time to test a shot-gun approach - we can host a wider variety of contests and see which ones attract more participants than others, and decide which kind of fans the ORG can focus more on. We do not have to feel embarrassed if no participant comes to a certain contest - that simply mean we don't have this kind of users currently in the ORG. Or maybe people do not play games this way anymore. We can simply focus on something else in the future.

[Maltz]

The video contest is now over. I wonder whether there is a story competition scheduled? :) Thanks.

[Peasant Phill]

The video contest is now over. I wonder whether there is a story competition scheduled? :) Thanks.

We have a few things we're sitting on.

I'll take on your suggestion and discuss it among the staff to get some sort of schedule.

I'll keep in touch.

[Maltz]

Here are a few updates of my proposed rules for the story competition.

ORG's 2012 AAR/Story competition - DRAFT

(1) Period
From now (start date) to (2-3 months later) 23:59 GMT.

(2) Content
Must be based on a Total War game campaign OR battle. Any Total War game.

Note: I think including battles will increase participation and allow for shorter entires. The battle AARs will have their own awards and are independent from the campaign awards (See 5).

(3) Conditions
No restriction of any sort. The participant has the freedom to decide on the victory conditions of the campaign (short, long, etc.), difficulty, mods, etc. There is no restriction on length - as long/short as the it takes to make a good story.

(4) Qualifications
Two conditions must be satisfied.

(a1) The participant starts a new thread in the TreasAARy forum from now to (finish date) 23:59 GMT. This is an automatic admission.
OR
(a2) The participant could have started an AAR/story prior to (start date). However, during the period of the competition, the story must be significantly developed - no less than (EDIT:) 1000 words of extra content. The participant also has to explicitedly state that he or she wishes to enter the work into the competition by replying to this thread.

(b) The story must end before the deadline. The story does not have to end on a victory/loss screen, but it must provide an obvious closure such as "The End".

(5) Award categories
A little badge will permanantly hang below all participants' portrait. There will be multiple award categories created depending on the number of nature of submissions.

Note: Depending on the number of participants we can have more or less categories at the judgment of the staff. The following are just suggestions. Open secret: we try to give all story writers something to take home proudly. So we can even make up categories for entires who do not fit into any existing categories.

Campaign Category

- Best Campaign: How well the story is written (essentially the first prize)
- Best Strategy: How well the campaign strategies are carried out.
- Best Tactics: How well the battles are fought.
- Best Presentation: How well the screenshots and videos are made. Can be separated into two categories.
- Most Creative: How fresh the story is.
- Most Laughs: How funny the story is.
- Best Effort: How heroic the player fought hard to the last moment.
- XXX Ryu: (named after the author) A very unique style of play that exercises beauty and perfection in one's own style.

Battle Category

- Best Battle Story: How well the story is written (essentialkly the first prize)
- Best Fought Battle: How skillful the commander was.
- Most Adrenaline: How exiting the battle was.
- Best Visual Presentation: (screenshots, videos)

(6) Welcome Multiple Submissions Participants can submit multiple stories to both the campaign and the battle category.

[Peasant Phill]

@Maltz

I'll schedule the contest in somewhere in this month.

It's a bit brave to add so many categories. It depends on the number of participants.

[Maltz]

I have made two changes to the above suggested rule.

(1) "100%" extra content required on existing story is changed to at least "1000 words" of new content. I think a quantitative limit works better than a proportional limit, because it is very easy for a very brief story opening to go over 100% extra content. This also allows myself to keep updating my Hattori story, which I wish to enter the competition, without having to pause until the announcement for the competition.

(2) Each person can submit more than one story in the campaign category, and more than one story in the battle category. I doubt people can really do it for the campaigns, but quite possible for battles.

[Peasant Phill]

You can launch the contest when you think it's ready. When you made the announcement, I'll put it on the front page and drum up some judges.

[Maltz]

Thanks. Here is the final draft of the announcement. Please take a look. If it looks good I will go on and post it.



ORG's 2012 Story/After Action Report(AAR) competition

Interested in sharing an unforgetable Total War adventures?
Think you are a creative writer, photographer, or cameraman?

(1) Period: From now, 2012.06.14, to 2012.08.31 23:59 GMT.

(2) Content Requirement: Must be based on a Total War game campaign or battle(s). Any Total War title. It can be single player or multiplayer.

(3) Restrictions: None. The participant can decide the victory conditions of the campaign or battle, difficulty, mods, etc. There is no restriction on length or format of the story/AAR.

(4) Qualifications: Two conditions must be satisfied.

(Condition 1a) The participant starts a new thread in the ORG's TreasAARy forum during the contest period. This is an automatic admission.
OR
(Condition 1b) The participant could have started an AAR/story in the TreasAARy or another forum prior to the contest period. However, during the period of the competition, the story must receive no less than 1000 words of extra content. The participant also has to explicitedly state that he or she wishes to enter the work into the competition by replying to this thread.

(Condition 2) The story must end before the deadline. The story does not have to end on a victory/loss screen, but it must provide an obvious closure such as "The End".

(5) Awards: A little badge will permanantly hang below all participants' portrait. There will be multiple award categories created depending on the number of nature of submissions. Campaign and battle AAR/stories are judged separately.

(6) Multiple Submissions: Participants can submit multiple entries to both the campaign and the battle category.

(7) General Tips:
- Write creatively. Present the game from an angle different from a usual gamer's perspective.
- Run spell-checks.
- Feel free to use pictures, videos, or anything that you think will help the story (bribes to the ORG staff might be accepted).

[Andres]

It doesn't look good, it looks excellent

[Peasant Phill]

I'll advertise it this evening.

[Maltz]

Thanks for the news promotion. The announcements have been posted to relative forums.
May I request that the thread becomes a temporary (from now to 2012.08.31) sticky in the TreasAARy forum and the STW2 Tea House forum, where questions and comments are directed to? Thanks very much.

[Maltz]

The competition period is approaching its end.
I think we have about a handful of entries - maybe more, I will have to check each forum.

I'd say that we end this competition on time as planned, and start the judging process and giving out awards.
Any suggestions? And how do we find the judges?

[Maltz]

Er... it is now October and there is still no word.
I understand that people are busy and there aren't so many people who care about it.
Maybe we will simply give participants a little badge?
And quietly take down the sticky competition notice... :p

[Peasant Phill]

I'll bring it to the attention of the staff.

@Graphic @Voigtkampf

[Nigel]

Hello @Maltz,

Voigtkampf and myself are currently looking into this competition.
You mentioned, that there would be a handful of valid entries. Could you point us to them or list them here?

The competition period is approaching its end.
I think we have about a handful of entries - maybe more, I will have to check each forum.

[Maltz]

I went around and took a look at the Mead Hall and all the contest announcement threads (hopefully I didn't miss any):
If I strictly follow the rule, which states:

-------------

Qualifications: Two conditions must be satisfied.

(Condition 1a) The participant starts a new thread in the ORG's TreasAARy forum during the contest period (2012.06.15, to 2012.08.31 23:59 GMT). This is an automatic admission.
OR
(Condition 1b) The participant could have started an AAR/story in the TreasAARy or another forum prior to the contest period. However, during the period of the competition, the story must receive no less than 1000 words of extra content. The participant also has to explicitly state that he or she wishes to enter the work into the competition by replying to this thread.

(Condition 2) The story must end before the deadline. The story does not have to end on a victory/loss screen, but it must provide an obvious closure such as "The End".

-------------

THEN there are only three entries qualify for the contest. And they are all made by me!

"TW:S2 Story: Wanderer of Faith (Battle of Fukuoka)" by maltz
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...le-of-Fukuoka)

"Iga Ninjutsu is Good" by maltz
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...ination-V5445)

"TW:S2 Story: Legion of Faith (Battle of Mihara)" by maltz
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...tle-of-Mihara)

There is one entry that started and expanded significantly within the contest period, but did not manage to provide an ending (condition 2 not satisfied).

"Life of the youngest son (a Macedon AAR)" by Darth Feather
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...a-Macedon-AAR)

There is one entry that started at the end of the contest period. There are significant expansions but it is still quite far from the end (condition 2 not satisfied).

"M2TW AAR The Ashes of Rome- Blood and Steel" by Askthepizzaguy
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...lood-and-Steel

I will leave that to the staff to decide. I am happy either way because I will have my medal. Right? Right?